JUDGMENT

Siti Norma Yaakob JCA:

Civil Appeals Q-01-181-95 and Q-01-182-95 were, with the consent of all parties, heard together as the causes of action in both appeals arose from one common tragedy. That tragedy happened on 16 February 1990 at 10am at the premises of Public Bank Berhad in Miri (the Bank) when inflammable gas escaped, got ignited and caused a series of explosions and fire that killed a customer of the Bank, one Jeffrey Satuk Gabar (the deceased), and seriously injured another, one Chin Fuei Yung alias Chooi Ngung Choi (Chin).

The widow of the deceased as the administratrix, filed civil suit No. MR 5/ 93 (the first suit) in Miri seeking damages on behalf of herself, the other dependants of the deceased which included the deceased's four minor children and his aged parents and the estate of the deceased under ss. 7 and 8 of the Civil Law Act 1956 (Act 67). She named the Government of Sarawak (the State Government), the supplier of gas in the town of Miri, as the first defendant, Liew Yit Tze (Liew) and Phua Su Meng (Phua), as the second and third defendants respectively, they being the registered proprietors of two adjoining plots of land, Lots 292 and 293, together